Plato’s Cave: an Allegory to Uncommon Sense

The prisoners which were hypothetically chained to the wall in Plato’s cave and were constrained to observe only the shadows cast by the real objects are analogous of common-sense making wherein empirical sensory stimulation and coloquial knowledge becomes the primary basis of knowledge and meaning.

A prisoner or prisoners which are released from their constraints and able to move about freely thereby observing a more complex structure of connectivity and meaning with respect to the shadows and objects is analogous to uncommon-sense making.

The disparity between a common sense orientation and an uncommon one is exemplified by a prisoner which escapes the cave only to find a much more complex reality than that of the contemporary slaves still bound within the cave.

Upon returning to the prisoners in the cave, the now more enlightened one must surly seem insane to speak of things which are unfamiliar and seem to make no sense, particularly to the contemporary slaves which can plainly see the simple truth right before their eyes.

In the most primal and simplistic social arrangements a common-sense orientation to sense making is essential. As society and technology becomes increasingly complex, a common-sense orientation to sense making becomes archaic and obsolete whereas an uncommon-sense approach is essential. Hence our title: Uncommon Sense.